Tucson business community reacts to minimum wage hike

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TUCSON, Ariz. (KGUN) – On Tuesday evening, Tucson voters approved Prop 206, raising the city’s minimum wage to $ 15 an hour by 2025.

The hikes would begin April 1, 2022 and climb to $ 13 an hour. The wage will reach $ 15 an hour by January 1, 2025.

Tucson’s unofficial election results show the measure passed with no problems (60% vs 32%). But the business world is divided on this issue.

Bike shop owner Jenna Majchrzak, who bought Transit Cycles in the Menlo Park neighborhood, called it a “good start”.

“I don’t think there is such a thing as an unskilled job or unskilled job,” she said. “And when you go to work and do a good job, you deserve to be paid to do it.

“I believe that working people deserve to make a living and to be able to afford to live in the city where they work.”

Majchrzak says she pays her employees more than the minimum wage partly because of her experience as a bicycle mechanic, but knows others who are stuck with the minimum wage and have problems.

“I was severely underpaid for my skills,” she said. “Historically, this applies to bicycle mechanics almost everywhere … I won’t get rich with it. Neither of us is. But we do it because we love it. And if I can afford to do a little less so that they can do a little more, then I’ll do it. “

Other business owners are not satisfied with the measure being passed.

“If it were just a wage increase, our conversation could be very different,” said Michael Guymon, Interim President and CEO of the Tucson Metro Chamber of Commerce, other requirements included in the measure as worrying.

The new law also calls for new adjustments – around three-hour guaranteed wages for employees whose shifts are canceled less than 24 hours in advance.

There is also potential confusion for owners with locations or projects in and out of the city limits that pay different amounts to their employees.

Guymon called these “bureaucratic nightmares” imposed on businesses.

“You just have to figure out how to relocate your business,” he said. “Do you have to raise the prices? Do you have to cut the hours? You will need to make some important adjustments. “

Guymon says time will tell how the actual wage increase will affect businesses, but he says that “market conditions bring us pretty close to those wages,” citing the 2016 government minimum wage increase.

Guymon says he wished the city waited for a state or regional increase instead. According to him, companies are already turning to the chamber, with some saying this new law could potentially force them to close.

“There are groups like adult care homes, there are groups like childcare facilities,” he said. “You are already coming in to say, ‘I really am in a difficult position.'”

The city must also set up a new “Labor Standards Department” by April 1, 2022, primarily responsible for dealing with and investigating complaints in the workplace.

The full text of Prop 206 is available online here.

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